Response of Marine Plankton Communities in Ponds to the Presence of Vertical Structures

The effects of bottom vertical structures like AquaMats® in enhancing plankton productivity was evaluated. One experimental earthen pond of 500 m2 was provided with AquaMats® increasing the surface substrate area 12 times and water quality, phytoplankton and zooplankton populations developed during almost 100 days was compared with a pond without AquaMats®. Their presence favored the development of Dinoflagellates (Miozoa, Dinophyceae), mostly Gymnodiniales, which may be of some concern since some species of this group have been associated with toxic algal blooms while in the ponds without AquaMats® Diatoms (Bacillariophyta) predominate. In both ponds plankton production was very much sculptured by external nutrients added to the systems. The balance between different nutrients is extremely important to regulate the phytoplankton populations with Diatoms blooming at silicate concentrations higher than 2 μM and below this level and at low nitrate and high ammonium being more appropriate for Dinoflagellates. The linkage between phytoplankton and zooplankton population in ponds is strong with zooplankton exerting control over the phytoplankton population and vice-versa. The use of vertical substrates enhances plankton productivity by increasing the substrate area for periphyton fixation. The main zooplankton taxonomic groups associated with the presence of AquaMats® were Calanoid and Harpacticoid copepodites and nauplii, veligers of gastropods and trochophore of polychaets, larval stages of organisms that except for calanoid copepods are benthic and correspond to the meroplanktonic phase in the life cycle of those organisms.

Promotion of Plankton CO2 Assimilation by Effective Use of NOx and NP is Best Method to Produce Much Fish and Protect Global Warming

The earth is warmed up by the burning of 1.4 billion tone fossil releasing 360 billion tone CO2 in 2016. If we can compensate the generation of CO2 by CO2 assimilation, global warming can is protected. About 14.4 billion tone NOx is produced when fossil is burned. NOx is a promotor of plant growth and CO2 assimilation. Therefore NOx elimination gives great damage on growth of plant plankton. Production of fish, grain. To eliminate NOx, ammonia is used. By this reaction, precious fertilizer is destroyed by other fertilizer. This is tremendous loss. The countries who do this reaction like USA, Japan, Germany and Italy are consuming much fossil generating much CO2 for elimination of NOx. Therefore electricity price is higher than no NOx elimination country. The country whose electricity price is low can produce good with low price. Then producing industry progress and GDP growth rate become higher. Therefore NOx elimination and drainage NP elimination should be stopped to produce much fish and protect global warming.

Plankton and Fisheries

This chapter explores the dependence of fish on plankton and the relationship between plankton productivity and fisheries production. The dependence of fish production on plankton production is self-evident, since carbon fixation by photosynthetic phytoplankton forms the base of the marine food chain that leads to fish. Fisheries production is highest in areas of high plankton production, including upwelling areas (e.g. eastern boundary currents), fronts, and shelf seas with high nutrient supply. Marine mammals, seabirds, and fish that are capable of migrating over long distances often congregate to feed in these high productivity areas. However, it is generally not possible to infer fluctuations in annual fisheries yields from information on primary production, and even the average relationship for the nine areas together may be quite weak.

Quantification of Sterol and Triterpenol Biomarkers in Sediments of the Cananéia-Iguape Estuarine-Lagoonal System (Brazil) by UHPLC-MS/MS

Sterols and triterpenols present in sedimentary cores from 12 stations along the Cananéia-Iguape estuarine-lagoonal system were investigated by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS). Ten sterols and three triterpenols were identified and quantified, indicating both natural and anthropogenic sources. The relative distributions of sterol and triterpenol showed that the study area is submitted to organic matter (OM) from the Ribeira de Iguape River, seawater, surrounding vegetation, and plankton production. The contribution of these sources depends on the region of the estuarine-lagoonal system and the depth of sediment. Regarding anthropogenic sources, only the samples submitted to freshwater flow from the Ribeira de Iguape River presented concentration of coprostanol higher than the threshold value and diagnostic ratios, coprostanol/(coprostanol + cholestanol) and coprostanol/cholesterol, that indicate moderate contamination by domestic sewage in that area of the estuarine-lagoonal system. Therefore, the approach used herein identified the OM sources and its transport along the Cananéia-Iguape estuarine-lagoonal system (Brazil), which is a complex of lagoonal channels located in a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Biosphere Reserve.

Environmental Conditions in a Carpathian Deep Sea Basin During the Period Preceding Oceanic Anoxic Event 2 - A Case Study from the Skole Nappe

Hemipelagic green clayey shales and thin muddy turbidites accumulated in a deep sea environment below the CCD in the Skole Basin, a part of the Outer Carpathian realm, during the Middle Cenomanian. The hemipelagites contain numerous radiolarians, associated with deep-water agglutinated foraminifera. These sediments accumulated under mesotrophic conditions with limited oxygen concentration. Short-term periodic anoxia also occurred during that time. Muddy turbidity currents caused deposition of siliciclastic and biogenic material, including calcareous foramini-fers and numerous sponge spicules. The preservation and diversity of the spicules suggests that they originate from disarticulation of moderately diversified sponge assemblages, which lived predominantly in the neritic-bathyal zone. Analyses of radiolarian ecological groups and pellets reflect the water column properties during the sedimentation of green shales. At that time, surface and also intermediate waters were oxygenated enough and sufficiently rich in nutri-ents to enable plankton production. Numerous, uncompacted pellets with nearly pristine radiolarian skeletons inside show that pelletization was the main factor of radiolarian flux into the deep basin floor. Partly dissolved skeletons indicate that waters in the Skole Basin were undersaturated in relation to silica content. Oxygen content might have been depleted in the deeper part of the water column causing periodic anoxic conditions which prevent rapid bacterial degra-dation of the pellets during their fall to the sea floor.